Page 43 of Temptation Unleashed (Talaenian Fae #3)

“I give you my promise in blood, mo storín . I am your shield and your sword. I’ll protect you, whatever the cost, whatever the consequences.

As long as my heart still beats and breath fills my lungs, I’ll bear all punishments to know you’re safe.

I will cherish you until my life is no more.

You shan’t have to worry whether you are safe with me, for your safety is guaranteed. ”

The shimmering gold that encircled their hands faded as his wound healed.

A new fullness settled in his chest. A battling lightness from his promise and a heaviness with the knowledge that his time was coming to an end.

He tipped his head and rested his lips against her forehead, lingering as he breathed in her sweet scent, now mixed with a heady thread of desire and pleasure.

“Sleep, my precious anam cara . Bear no regrets from this eve.”

A small dose of sleep magic aided him as he slipped from beneath her head and off the bed.

His muscles tingled with residual weakness.

Her scent imprinted on his skin, inside his nostrils, inside his head.

Her taste lingered on his tongue, the sound of her cries as she shattered haunting his ears.

He ran his tongue across his lips, savoring her in those moments as he stared down at her sleeping figure.

Precious. Perfect. A universe of all his hopes and desires in a small, delicate package.

She’d come too late.

Turning his back to her fractured his spirit and twisted his heart. He manifested his clothing onto his body, pulled his hair back, and sifted from a place where he’d found true peace and tranquility to the bowels of one dark hellscape.

“Rori!”

The dreamless serenity that had held her in its revitalizing embrace shattered.

For a few moments, she allowed her mind to wake, her surroundings to come into focus.

The familiar scent of warmth and spice greeted her like a summer sun’s kiss.

Her mouth lifted at the corners and she fought the sleepiness to open her eyes the same moment her hand reached out for Thaddeus.

Her palm hit the empty pillow.

The serenity faded.

Gone.

He was gone .

“Did you expect something more?” she whispered, but the sting his abandonment caused burrowed deep into her chest. She pushed up on her elbow.

That’s when she saw the smear of red across the back of the hand she had yet to pull away from the empty pillow.

A crease formed between her brows as she brought her hand close, inspecting it for a wound and finding none.

Lifting her hand to her nose, she took a sharp breath. All she could smell was Thaddeus.

“Rori, wake up!”

Cassy’s frantic shouts snapped her out of her daze. She threw the blanket aside and jumped out of the bed, scrambling for her clothes scattered across the floor. Somehow she pulled everything on and yanked open the door right as Cassy reached for the knob.

“Wha—”

“Come!”

Cassy grabbed her arm and hauled her into the living room, throwing her into the sofa.

Cael caught her as she practically landed on his lap.

His smile faltered when his gaze dropped to her red-streaked hand.

His nostrils flared and his gaze shot up to hers once more.

A burning heat rose to her cheeks as she put a few inches between them, turning her focus to her best friend as she fumbled with the television remote.

“I couldn’t believe this. I just…I mean…” Cassy found a news channel and twisted to them. Her sharp eyes pinned Cael first. “Tell her!”

“Tell me what?”

Unease settled in her belly. She looked between Cassy and Cael.

Cael appeared more preoccupied with whatever he detected from her than Cassy’s borderline panic.

He shifted on the sofa, angling to face her directly.

His hand slipped and brushed against her thigh.

Her gaze instantly dropped to her hand as a breeze caressed her skin, erasing any outward evidence of the stain.

“A body was discovered in the river floating by one of the boat launch ramps during the night,” Cael finally said.

The unease turned to a burdening weight. Thaddeus had disappeared with Rich. He never did confide what had happened. But the discovery…she knew. She knew the truth deep in her bones. She’d known Thaddeus wasn’t going to let Rich walk away breathing.

“A…body.”

“Here! Look!” Cassy interrupted, jabbing the remote toward the television.

Rori tore her gaze from Cael’s penetrating eyes, eyes that sought more than information about a dead body.

He knew his brother better than she, and his lack of surprise attested to her suspicion that he was aware of what Thaddeus had done.

She listened to the breaking news story, the room around her growing dim. Sure enough, a nearby marina had been closed off after a body was reported in the water.

“…Local deputy spokesperson confirmed the body as that of thirty-one-year-old Richard Sulton, an area mechanic. Sulton was known to police, and had in fact, been wanted on a warrant. Sources say that no foul play is suspected...”

No foul play.

Rori swallowed a lump in her throat. Yes, she had suspected. She knew. But hearing the news solidified what he had not confirmed.

“Rich is dead, Rori.”

Cassy had turned back to her as she processed the information.

She should have felt a smidgen of remorse or pity.

She wasn’t a heartless woman. In fact, her empathy oftentimes ran rampant.

Yet she felt…nothing but relief. And a di sturbing lick of gratitude because Thaddeus had rid her of her worst nightmare. Her deepest fear.

“Rori, are you listening?” Cassy plopped on the sofa opposite Cael, took her by the shoulders and shook her.

“Rich. Is. Dead. He’s gone, Rori. He’s gone and you will never have to fear him again.

” A strangled laugh escaped Cassy. “Wish the fish had time to feast on his bones, but hey. At least you can rest easy now. Speaking of resting easy.” Her brows came together, her eyes lowering to Rori’s neck.

“Umm, girl. Did you have company last night?”

Her throat closed. Her face went from warm to scorching as she instinctively reached for her neck. “I…”

“Love, why don’t you grab some coffee for her. She just woke up,” Cael interrupted, pushing off the sofa and tugging a resistant Cassy from her seat. “Give her a few minutes. The news probably comes as a shock.”

Cassy’s jaw dropped open. She shoved his shoulder as a mischievous spark flared in her dark eyes. “You weasel! Was it your brother? Is that why you insisted we go back to your place? Did you know?—”

“Coffee, sweet. Go get some coffee?—”

“Ohhh, no. No way you’re going to try and distract?—”

Rori’s brows shot up when Cael grabbed Cassy by the back of the head and shut her up with a kiss that Rori could feel in the depths of her soul. She dropped her head and pinched her forehead as Cael took to Cassy like a starved beast.

Wings fluttered wildly within her belly.

Not so unlike Thaddeus.

She closed her eyes, reminiscing about his kisses. From fierce and possessive to sweet and tender. Thaddeus’s mouth was a heaven she eagerly wished to get lost in.

“I’m not through with you,” Cassy murmured, her thick voice cutting through Rori’s memories. She didn’t have a chance to look up before Cael lowered to sit beside her, watching Cassy slip into the kitchen.

“A gunshot wound seems a little too simple for my brother, especially under the circumstances. If I were to guess, Rich suffered before a bullet struck its mark.”

“Why do you think it was a bullet?”

Cael chuckled, facing her. “I heard the news before Cassy and checked it out myself.” Cael touched a single finger to his temple.

“Pretty clean shot, and he was still holding his gun. Knowing my brother, and how protective he’s become of you, Rich endured a bit of Thaddeus pizzazz before leaving this world.

” He dropped his hand to hers. The stained hand he had magically cleaned. “And you gained a blood promise.”

Rori scoffed, but Cael’s words resonated with that swimming gold cord inside her that somehow recognized Thaddeus and constricted whenever he was close.

It pulsed, its brilliant glow muted, sad, a reflection of her current emotions since waking to find him gone.

No note. Nothing. Last night could have been a dream had her bed not smelled of Thaddeus and her body not ached from everything he’d done to make her shatter.

“Blood promises. What’re the significance of those?”

Cael grew serious. The air around him shifted, pressing down on her shoulders as he leaned close.

“Blood, my sweet, is the essence of everything. Blood is life. The Fae do not offer blood promises, or blood bonds, lightly. They are irreversible. Once a promise is made or a bond created through blood, it is for eternity. Or death. Soul mates, in our culture, do not have weddings. We bond through blood, an intimate ceremony that seals our fates to our mate through the Goddess. Blood promises can be one-sided. Fae have been known to make promises to others through blood. Though we can’t lie, sealing our promise with blood solidifies our sincerity. ”

Rori drew her lower lip between her teeth as she considered her hand. Cael’s explanation sang to something indescribable, a hum of confirmation for an unknown promise.

“I’m unaware of any promises. I fell asleep and when I woke up, he was gone.

” A bitter laugh left her lips and she looked up at Cael.

“To be expected, I suppose. I was coming off an adrenaline rush. I suspect he was, too.” She shrugged.

“Things happened and that’s that. I knew what I was doing, and knew the potential outcome. ”

“I may not know all of Thad’s more intimate routines, but he’s never been one to lay with a woman because he lost control or simply had an itch that needed to be scratched.

He’s always been particular. If anything, it probably got worse over the last century.

Whatever happened last night is between you both, but rest assured, it wasn’t meaningless. ”

Her heart soared at Cael’s assurance, but her mind fought to keep her grounded.

Her relationship with Thaddeus was anything but normal, and definitely wasn’t what anyone would consider healthy.

Then again, what was healthy when dealing with the Fae?

She held no expertise in the fantasy department outside of books Cassy would shove in her hands and demand she read.

At last, Rori sighed, patted the back of his hand before slipping hers out from beneath his palm, and stood. “I’m going to change into something a little more appropriate. I’ll be back.”

Once she was in her room, she gingerly traced the area along the back of her hand where the smatter of crimson had been, a giddy smile teased her mouth.

Did Thaddeus really make a blood promise?

To her? What did he feel so strongly about that he’d swear it in blood? If she asked him, would he tell her?

Another thought infiltrated her momentary joy.

Soul mates bonded by blood as well. Would Thaddeus ever bond with her in such a way? Or would he always find her lowly and unworthy, despite his whispered words and endearments during the night?

“Don’t get your hopes up.”

Rori pulled out a new outfit, took a quick shower, and changed. She tied her damp hair on top of her head, adjusted her T-shirt and rolled the waistband of her jogging pants down a bit before heading back to the living room.

She’d made it a step out of her bathroom when her skin prickled and the air turned heavy and thick. Every alarm in her mind screamed. Intuition blared with warning. She took a few seconds to scan her bedroom, then the bathroom.

A shadow caught at the corner of her eye. She spun back to her bedroom.

Empty.

The scent of musty dirt and wet rocks teased her nostrils, tendrils of essence that cut through Thaddeus’s lingering spice.

Her stomach cinched. Her fingers grew cold with impending panic.

Energy rippled through the air, bringing the hairs on her arms upright and making her muscles grow cold and stiff.

The air moved at her back. She spun around, shuffled closer to the bedroom door as she observed an empty room.

A hollow chuckle taunted her from every direction. She swore she heard the sizzle of electricity. The room rippled, like heat off pavement, followed by the walls beginning to warp.

She dove for her door, but it disappeared into another smooth surface that stretched and curved. Her entire room grew and twisted, reshaping into a dome with no doors, no windows. The furniture melted into the distorted illusion, feeding them as they stretched.

She pounded on the wall, fear welling.

“Cael!”

“He won’t make it here to save you.”

Rori twisted back to her room, or what had been her room. Nothing was left but a carpet that coiled and swayed like eerie snakes around her feet.

Standing within the pit of serpents were two deceitfully beautiful Fae, eyes filled with malice and hands unleashing deadly magic.